Reading Before Bed Could Make You Happier and Healthier, Survey Says
If you didn't already have an excuse to binge-read all seven of the Harry Potter books for the fifth time, listen up: According to a new survey, reading before going to bed can actually make you healthier, happier, and give you a better quality of sleep. Even if you're not the biggest HP fan, these findings will make you want to grab the nearest mystery—or thriller, or romance, or memoir—on your nightstand to dig into before catching some ZZs.
The survey, conducted by mattress review site Sleep Junkie, consisted of results from 2,309 people and focused on more in-depth results from around 1,000 of the respondents who fell into two distinct groups—those who frequently read before bed (averaging five or more nights a week) and those who rarely, if ever, read before bed.
"Over 80 percent [of bedtime readers] said reading in bed was relaxing," Sleep Junkie reported. "Another 65 percent indicated reducing stress was a benefit they enjoyed. Fifty percent said they slept better." Unsurprisingly, 96% of the voracious readers recommend that others also follow in their footsteps so they can get in on the positive side effects, too—73% of them.
Most readers surveyed—44%, to be exact— preferred reading books in the traditional print format, but e-book preference isn't that far behind, with 38% of readers standing firmly behind their Kindles.
According to the survey, bedtime readers slept an additional hour and 37 minutes than those who did not read before bed over the course of a week—I don't know about you, but adding on any amount of time to my sleep schedule seems like a pretty stellar deal to me. All that extra sleep just might contribute to overall happiness, too—70% of frequent readers think they're currently living their life to the absolute fullest, while only 58% of nonreaders think the same.
While this data relies on self-reporting and no statistical data has been gathered on these findings, reading is still definitely something that promotes brain stimulation and could make you a little sleepy before bedtime. Now—who's trying to head to the library?
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